We had a blast in Toy Story Land (TSL). I’m not a huge Toy Story fan, per se, but I like the way walking through this land felt like walking down Nostalgia Lane (not a real lane; I made that up). Some of the toys are the kinds I had in my childhood, but in TSL they are oversized, which is kinda fun because it’s like I’ve been shrunken into the size of one of those Bucket o’ Soldiers small green plastic Army figures from the films. By the way, there are human-sized soldiers actually marching through TSL!
There are a lot of cool rides in this part of Hollywood Studios (HS). My favorite (and Keke’s for sure) is the Slinky Dog Dash. We rode this ride three times (two times at night)!!! Here are some pics I took and a few from the Disney photography.
I didn’t know riding a roller coaster could be so fun. 🙂
I also really like rides that let you compete with your fellow riders. At Magic Kingdom they have a Buzz Lightyear ride (why it’s there and not at this park is something I can’t explain) and a Toy Story Mania! ride at HS. The rides are similar, but the one at HS requires you to wear 3D glasses. Of course, as a glasses wearer I had two pairs of glasses on.
Keke beat me both times! We had different strategies and hers panned out, while mine faltered. Oh well, I had a blast. (Get it?)
We also rode the Alien Swirling Saucers more than once. It was fun, too. I experience nausea or digestive issues daily because of my chemo, but my counteractive meds must have worked this trip because I rode the tea cups at Magic Kingdom and then this swirler twice (once in the day time and once at night). I didn’t feel nauseous on the roller coasters either, so that was awesome! And no one threw up on me at HS either!
Here are the pics to prove that I went on the ride and that it was fun!
Outside of TSL you might decide to grab a bit to eat at the Sci-Fi Dine-In. Our planner recommended this one.
The gist of it is you are sitting in a car inside a dark huge room with a bunch of other cars, and you’re eating your food by a tiny light in the topless car (like the one shown in the picture above) while watching trailers for B-movies from the 50s and 60s. Perfect for this monster expert, right?! 🙂 Here’s a pic of what that looks like:
I snapped a couple of pics of the trailers. Of course I had to share with you the last one:
The trailers were amazing, and the design of this restaurant is unique. I really loved it. But it was freezing. I run hot, so if I thought it was freezing, then you know it was cold! If you go, buy or bring a sweatshirt. We didn’t have any. I took my sundae to go because it was too cold to eat it inside. The burger and fries were good, but I was so cold that I couldn’t enjoy my food as much as I wanted to.
In case you’re thinking where’s Mickey and Minnie in all of these rides (from Magic Kingdom and Epcot to HS) let me assure you there is one. There’s a fun one at HS inside a building that looks like Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles where you get to ride in a train and watch them have an adventure-filled day. It’s called Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and guess who’s running the train. Engineer Goofy!
According to Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway’s webpage, the ride is “based on the recent award-winning Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts” and “is the first ride at any Disney park that stars Mickey Mouse and friends.” That shocked me, but after spending days at the parks we noticed that there aren’t Mickey rides. There are experiences, like 4D shows and character meet ups, but the rides aren’t Mickey rides. There’s a Goofy ride at Magic Kingdom, however.
Here are some pics:
For some reason Olaf was in HS instead of Epcot where the Frozen ride is. There is a Frozen sing-a-long at this park, so maybe that’s why he’s here. Anyway, we took a bunch of pics with the snowman, but I like this one best:
Did I want to hang out at the beach with this larger-than-life snowman? You betcha? I love Olaf. If you haven’t seen Frozen 2, you should do that. I think Olaf’s funnier in the sequel than in the original.
We had sooooooooo much fun on this trip. And the fun wasn’t just at the parks. We enjoyed riding the Skyliner to and from Epcot and HS, as shown in the pics below on the morning of our last park day.
And we enjoyed closing our last day with some much needed character shaped ice cream!
If you go to Disney and don’t snap a pic of yourself eating a Mickey Mouse shaped ice cream, did you even really go to Disney? I’m glad I managed to do this at the last minute! Seriously–last minute. The shop was gonna close. 😀
Trip over, right? Well, not exactly. We still had to fly home. For me it was back to Maine. For them, Texas. And all of our flights were either delayed or canceled. So the return trip wasn’t so fun, but we all made it home in the same day, and that’s what matters!
We also took something from Disney home with us: the Disney rash. That sounds bad, right? OK, here’s what happened. On the last day, at HS, I noticed a big area on the inside of my left ankle that had a weird splotchy look. At first I thought I got a weird sunburn–like when you put on sunscreen unevenly and then the parts you didn’t cover well get burned. Alas, that’s not what happened.
I told my sister the day we were traveling home, and she said my mom had something similar on both ankles and that she had some marks, too. My bro-in-law might have as well. We didn’t see anything on the kids. Here’s a pic of what my ankle looked like two days after we left the park:
My first thought was oh, no, I have a flesh eating disease! Then I thought oh, no, maybe I got something from the guy who vomited on me! Then I talked with my sister and jokingly said, “Yeah, I have the Disney rash.” I didn’t really think it was a rash because it didn’t itch, burn, or hurt in any way. I wouldn’t have even known I had it had I not seen it.
But there really is something called the Disney rash! Multiple websites confirm it, but here’s what WebMD has to say:
The Disney rash is a kind of blood vessel inflammation called vasculitis that affects the lower parts of the legs after you perform strenuous exercise or activity for a long time, especially in warm weather….It is harmless, and it often disappears on its own within 2 weeks after it appears. Though medical conditions are commonly named after specific people the Disney rash is not named after someone called “Disney.” But, the name came about because the rash is common among visitors to Disney World and other major theme parks. Visitors to these popular spots end up walking long distances, and the strain of extended walking together with the warm weather causes frequent breakouts of the Disney rash. Disney rash usually shows up on the skin of your lower legs that isn’t covered by clothing.
And there you have it. Another expect-the-unexpected Disney experience! Luckily, it went away within a week. Whew!
With that I’m calling it a wrap on the Disney posts. I’ll be back with more Bridgerton season 3, part 2 posts in June.
Until then……….here’s a blooper pic at a character encounter! I have a lot of these, and not with Chewy. There’s this camera constantly snapping pics, so I ended up with some action shots that can only be called bloopers! 🙂
Misty Krueger 
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